Q1 2018 Trends in Biopharma Transactions Report

Locust Walk is a global transaction firm serving biopharma and medtech companies in the US, Europe, and Asia.​

Each quarter, Locust Walk deal team members compile key statistics and trends on strategic transactions and financings. Our Q1 2018 Trends in Biopharma Transactions report applies the latest data to analyze current activities in the life science deal landscape. ​
​In this quarter’s report you can find an overview and analysis of the following across the US, Europe, Japan, and China:​

Key performance indicators for the biopharma market​

IPO and private financing activity and performance​

Deal activity for strategic partnerships and M&A

Here’s a summary of key findings:

In the US

2018 public markets were impacted by macro-level volatility as record level private financing continued and suppressed strategic deal volume

EU VC investment in 2018 has been fast paced, generating nearly 50% of 2017 aggregate value already, and is on track to surpass total deals seen in 2017

3 IPOs closed, most notably, large German generics player, Dermapharm, raising a total of $466M

Despite concerns that EU companies would become less desirable targets compared to US biotechs, due to the recent change in US tax law, EU M&A activity has kept up its torrid pace with Sanofi’s $4.7B acquisition of hematology-focused Ablynx

Lack of blockbuster EU licensing deals led to quiet quarter

In Japan

Stock prices have been volatile since the beginning of 2018, substantially effected by volatility in the US, as shares of the top 40 Japanese biotech/biopharma companies were up 11.4% in Q1 2018

Japanese strategic deals started off 2018 well with 29 licensing/M&A deals announced in Q1